The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has banned a Bet365 TV advert which promoted a “free bet offer” as in order to take advantage of the offer participants had to pay up to £50 per race.

A Bet365 advert promoting a free betting offer has been banned by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority.

The advert had a voice over which said, “…back any single winner at four to one or more on any race shown live on Channel Four and we’ll give you a free bet to the same stake on the next live Channel Four race.

If your free bet also wins at odds of four to one or more, you qualify for a free bet on the next live Channel Four race. Keep backing those winners and we’ll keep giving you free bets.”

The ASA said that they understood the advert to mean that customers would be “offered a free bet following their win”. Furthermore they said that the sentence “Free bet winnings exclude stake” make it sound as if “customers would have to place their own stake again in order to make the next bet, and would not be offered, for example, an additional free stake or matched stake by the advertisers. On that basis, we did not consider that the promotion offered winning customers any ‘free’ element when making their subsequent bet.”

Christian Bright is a professional sports commentator with keen interests in football, tennis and horse racing. His experience in the reporting on professional sports makes him a key asset to OCA’s coverage of athletic events and matches.